Katrina Brown asks to represent herself in fraud trial

Former city councilwoman scheduled to go on trial next month

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Two weeks before jury selection is scheduled to begin in her federal fraud and money laundering trial, former Jacksonville City Council member Katrina Brown is asking to waive representation by a lawyer and defend herself.

One of Brown’s court-appointed attorneys, Richard Landes, filed a motion Monday requesting a hearing regarding Brown's representation. The motion cited a “recent issue” that had been raised by Brown regarding her representation by Landes and her other court-appointed defense attorney, John Leombruno. The attorneys requested an expedited hearing on the issue and U.S. Magistrate Judge James Klindt heard her argument Wednesday afternoon.

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At the start of the hearing, Landes told the court that Brown had emailed him Sunday night, saying she wished to represent herself and take her defense in the direction she felt was best,

After a lengthy discussion in court -- much of it closed due to topics related to attorney-client privilege -- Klindt scheduled what is called a Faretta inquiry for Thursday afternoon. In that hearing, a judge reviews if a defendant's decision to reject outside counsel is "knowing and intelligent" and considers several factors, including the defendant's mental condition, the complexity of the case, the seriousness of the charge, the potential sentence, the defendant's experience in the criminal justice system and to ensure the waiver of counsel was not coerced.

Jury selection for the trial is currently scheduled to begin on Aug. 14, with the trial starting on Aug. 19. Last week, the two former council members, along with their attorneys and prosecutors, were in court for a final status conference before the trial’s scheduled start. The hearing dealt with several outstanding motions involving evidence and testimony and handled housekeeping matters such as the length of the trial. Prosecutors had said they expected to present their case in five days, and each defendant expected to take about a day.

The trial for Katrina Brown and Reggie Brown was originally scheduled for August 2018, but was delayed to February to give defense attorneys time to review the voluminous evidence in the case. Following Katrina Brown’s change of attorneys, the judge delayed the trial again to August to give her time to prepare with her new legal team.